Berlin Showroom Planned For Products From Taiwan

August 08, 1991|By DANA M. TOFIG; Courant Staff Writer

BERLIN -- A firm has decided to set up a showroom here for more than 100 Taiwanese companies to showcase their state-of-the-art products.

Jenus International, a Taiwan-based consulting firm, wants to set up a showroom where toys, electronics, manufacturing tools and other products would be displayed for business people and consumers to look at and place orders. Jenus has rented the second floor of a building on the Berlin Turnpike for Taiwan Showroom, but one of the company's consultants said this may just be the beginning. Frank Hou, a consultant for Jenus, said his firm wants to set up a showroom for products from the People's Republic of China as well and continue to expand.

"If we have two showrooms, we would like to have a permanent site as an exhibition center," Hou said. "Maybe someday Berlin will become famous for being a permanent site for an international showcase." There are several showcases for foreign products in the state, but this project is unusual, said Joan Landon, a trade consultant for the state Department of Economic Development.

Usually, these displays are started by foreign manufacturers as a way of introducing their products in the United States, she said. But this project would encompass more than 100 businesses and inventors.

"I have not heard of such a thing," she said.

Jenus and the town are sending Berlin's planner, William Voelker, to Taiwan next week to persuade Taiwanese businessmen to display their products here.

"The Taiwanese don't trust hearing it just from another [Taiwanese]," said Mayor Robert J. Peters. "They want to hear it from us."

Voelker will give at least two major presentations to businessmen and government officials. He will explain that its central location between Boston and New York and its easy access to interstate highways make Berlin a prime location for a showroom. The exact center of Connecticut is in the town as well.

To sell the town, Voelker, who found out he was going to Taiwan just a few days ago, said he will try to learn the proper etiquette.

"I want to be sensitive to whatever protocols there are," he

said. "I don't want to go over there and be the Ugly American."

Still, he sounds confident he will get his message across to the businessmen there.

"They'll certainly know that Berlin, Conn., is a good place to go," Voelker said. "I'll be sure of that."